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The Best Bone Conduction
Headphones For Swimrun?

For the best Bone Conduction headphones for swimrun, we tested the RunnerDiver2 Pro from Nank. These Bone Conducting headphones have several features that make them great for listening to music while swimming AND running, and making phone calls via Bluetooth to your phone while running (Bluetooth doesn't work underwater).

The other waterproof bone conducting headphones we looked at are the Shokz OpenSwim and the Shokz OpenSwim Pro.

Shokz also have3 other models in their bone-conduction line-up:

OpenRun Air 2 (Lightweight, 10 hours battery)
OpenRun Pro 2 (Premium sound)
OpenMove (Budget model for walk/run)

While these are up there with the best headphones for running, there are one or two things to bear in mind when it comes to swimming.

Because we want to focus on swimrun, we wanted to check out the bone conduction headphones that have enough water resistance to go swimming!

Which are the best headphones for swimming?

Jump down to the Shokz review

Jump down to the full comparison table

(As an Amazon Associates we may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.)

Nank RunnerDiver2 Pro

Nank RunnerDiver2 Pro Headphones

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(As HoloSport affiliates, we may earn a small commission on any purchases)

The Best Bone Conduction
Headphones For Swimrun?

What's in the box?

We got a set of NANK Headphones to test during our swimrun training sessions.

The headphones box

Watch our unboxing video below to get an idea of how these Bone Conduction headphones look and feel.

What Are The Best
Bone Conduction Headphones?

What is bone conduction?

According to techradar.com;

"Bone conduction headphones are placed right at the top of your cheekbones so vibrations pass through the bone of your upper jaw, bypassing your eardrums. Sound is passed directly into the cochlea via the bone, rather than using vibrations moving through the air as is the case with conventional headphone designs.

An obvious benefit is that there’s nothing being pushed into your ear canal, but the real appeal with bone conduction headphones is that you can carry on with your outdoor pursuits while also remaining fully able to hear what’s going on around you. The fact the sound waves are passing through the bone instead of through your eardrums can also make conduction phones a potential solution for some people with hearing disabilities."

Out of the box, these Bone Conducting headphones have a solid, premium quality feel and look. I like the soft matte surface, which seems to help prevent the headphones from sliding around on your head.

Ready to buy? Check current prices and availability DIRECTLY at Nank for a great price!

Best Bone Conducting Headphones

The connector piece between the control section and the bone speaker has a hinge, which means you can angle the bone speaker and earpiece forwards to expose the ear canal or backwards to cover the ear canal, making the music louder. There's also a hinge in the same spot on the other side.

Bending the earpiece back into the ear

Earpiece pushed back into the ear for noisy environments

In the picture above, you can see the control unit behind the ear, with 3 small buttons to control the function and volume.

In the box there is a small silicone strap with a loop and a 'button' at each end. This can be looped around the neck cable, pushing the 'button' through the loop to secure it, on both sides left and right. You can see how this adds security to the fit of the headphones.

To be honest, I'm not sure it's needed; on a training run doing hill reps I did not notice any movement at all, even when shaking my head to try to dislodge the 'phones!

Nank Bone Conduction Headphones, a Rear view showing the silicone strap across the back of a man's head

The silicone stabilising strap

After unpacking the headphones from the box and looking through the instructions, I attached the charging lead with the magnetic plug to the headphone charging socket. The other end has a standard USB plug, which I plugged into my laptop.

When the headphones are charging a blue light appears, to confirm the connection. While charging, I also opened Music on my Mac and dragged 80 music tracks over to the Nank icon on my desktop, and the music transferred over smoothly, although it took a few minutes.

When the headphones were fully charged, I put them on. This is an over-the-ear design, and the ear loops felt very comfortable and stable. Despite these 'phones having a solid feel, they are very light, and did not cause any pressure on my ears.

When I turned them on (hold the function button for 3 seconds), a voice comes on to announce that they are in Bluetooth mode, by default. If you have your phone nearby you can connect the two devices by Bluetooth and listen to music from your phone, or take a phone call.

Obviously, if you are swimming and physically remote from your phone, you cannot use Bluetooth. You are relying on the stored MP3 music tracks. So its a good move to load up your music onto the Nank storage, so it's ready to go when you decide to go swimming!

The Best Bone Conduction
Headphones For Swimrun?

Image courtesy Nank

Pressing the function button 3 times rapidly switches the 'phones to internal memory, and the playlist starts automatically. I was surprised at how good the headphones sound, and also at how loud they could go! While not having the bass performance of full over-ear headphones, the sound quality is excellent - I am a convert to bone conducting headphones!

Ready to buy? Check current availability and price DIRECT at the Nank website!

As noted above, when out on a training session doing hill reps, I did not notice any movement of the headphones on my ears or head - nothing.

Richard wearing the Nank headphones before some hill sprints

Mogsy tried them out too!

Swimming with the Nank Headphones

Image courtesy Nank

So far, so good when it comes to running; how about swimming?

There are a couple of issues to bear in mind when swimming with these bone conducting headphones:

According to Nank, you should not wear them in water for more than 40 minutes.
If swimming in salt water, the charging pins may corrode over time - be sure to rinse the salt water off!
Wearing a swim cap; does it go over or under the headphones? The answer is over the headphones!
Volume - there is a volume setting for swimming, which is louder. You may also want to use one of the ear inserts to reduce water getting into your ears and also to improve the sound. Are these bone conduction headphones the best headphones for swimming?
Nank say DO NOT wear the headphones in a hot shower or a sauna!

Richard in a green swimcap with the Nank bone conduction headphones

Swimcap folded up to show the headphones

Swimcap folded down to cover headphones

Goggles on; I can still reach the control buttons

Set to go!

I wore the headphones for a 20-minute swim session at our local training spot on Gozo, Malta. Although some water did get into my ears, it did not seem to affect the sound.

With the volume set to "Swim", (in MP3 mode just press the Volume button briefly to toggle between Standard sound and Swim sound), the music was clear, with great volume and decent bass.

The headphones were comfortable under my swim cap without any pressure points or uncomfortable pinching, and the control buttons remained accessible under the edge of my cap at all times, as you ca see from my photos!

The Best Bone Conduction
Headphones For Swimrun?

Shokz Bone conduction headphones

Shokz OpenSwim bone conduction headphones

The Rivals from Shokz are the OpenSwim and the OpenSwim Pro.

What's the difference?

The OpenSwim are the base SWIM model, with an IP68 water-resistance rating, but they do not have Bluetooth, only MP3 storage - 4GB.

The OpenSwim Pro also have the IP68 water-resistance rating, but have Bluetooth capability as well as MP3 storage, which is significantly bigger than the base model, at 32GB.

How do the Shokz models stack up against the Nank headphones?

Shokz OpenSwim Pro

What makes the Nank RunnerDiver headphones stand out? Of the 3 headphones here, the Nank are the heaviest, at 32g compared to 30g for the OpenSwim and 27.3g for the OpenSwim; the difference is negligible.

However, the Nank 'phones have a higher water resistance rating (IP69). So, if you are looking at using your headphones in the pool or for open water, the Nank are slightly more water resistant than the OpenSwim Pro.

What else? The battery life depends on the mode:

Around 8 hours in MP3 mode for the OpenSwim
About 9 hours (Bluetooth) and 6 hours (MP3) for the OpenSwim Pro
10 hours for the Nank

When it comes to technology, the Nank and OpenSwim Pro both have the latest bluetooth 5.4.

However, the non-swimming Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 have the edge in sound quality due to their updated bass transducers, which give a more solid, punchy bass and mid-range than the others. Read more about the OpenRun Pro 2 here.

Comparison Table

Headphone Model	Nank RunnerDiver 2 Pro	Shokz OpenSwim	Shokz OpenSwim Pro
Weight	32 grams	30 grams	27.3 grams
Battery Life	10 hours	8 hours (MP3)	9 hours (Bluetooth) 6 hours (MP3)
Water Resistance	IP69	IP68 2m/2 hrs	IP68 (2m/2 hrs)
Storage	32GB	4GB	32GB
Bluetooth	5.4	5.4	5.4
Sound Quality	Great	Good	Good

SUMMARY:

So, the best bone conduction headphones for swimming? Compared to the Shokz headphones, we think the Nank RunnerDiver2 Pro are the best.

Needless to say, the Shokz OpenSwim Pro phones are also very good, and will not disappoint, and the base model OpenSwim are great value for money if you don't need Bluetooth connectivity.

Ready to buy? Check current availability and price DIRECT at the Nank website.

For more information on the Shokz OpenSwim Pro and to check availability and price DIRECT at their website CLICK HERE.

SollaWave Smart Swim Goggles

The world's first AI music smart swim goggles, these are designed to replace five separate pieces of swim gear with a single, streamlined device.

SollaWave smart swim goggle by HoloSport underwater shot

The SollaWave combines racing-style swim goggles, integrated underwater headphones, waterproof earplugs, an AI-powered swim tracker, and built-in anti-fog protection into one compact package. Read our review for details, OR order direct from the HoloSport website, and remember to use our discount code - HOLOSWIM10 - to get your 10% off!

(As HoloSport affiliates we may earn a small commission on purchases)

www.swimrun-advice.com works with the following Swimrun companies:

Richard Mitchell, BDS, and Mogsy Ford are swimrun competitors and endurance athletes who write from direct racing experience. We have competed in swimrun since 2016, and bring added perspective from competitive running (5K to marathon) and open-water swim racing. This website has been mentioned by The Guardian newspaper. As married teammates, we train together, and build holidays around races. Read more at the 'About Us' page.